This is a record of my journey as a Muslim. I used to be Catholic and belonged to a missionary organisation. After my conversion, I sat on the board of a Muslim converts' organisation and specialised in da'wah programmes, convert management, interfaith issues and apostasy cases. I am an initiate of a Sufi order. As such, the articles and writings tend to cover these areas.
All the Arabic and graphics could not have been done without the help of my wife, Zafirah.

Monday, 30 April 2012

The Young Bride

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ
ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The following
was extracted from a speech given by Shaykh Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi al-Khalwati.

“I remember,
years ago when I was a young dervish, my shaykh
married a young couple. To the groom he
said, ‘This woman is Allah’s Gift to you. Allah Entrusts her to you to love, to
take care of, and to see to all her needs and to make her happy, and to live in
peace. Those are your obligations, and
if you do not perform your obligations you will be sinning.’

And to the bride,
he said, ‘My daughter, Allah has Rewarded this man by Entrusting you to him. He is obliged to love you, satisfy all your
needs and make you happy and content. The
only obligation you have towards him is to protect the sanctity of your home
and nothing else.’

A short while
after, the husband came to complain that his wife did not do any housework, nor
do anything for him, she just sat and amused herself. The shaykh
asked to talk to her, and told her, ‘My daughter, when I told you that you had no
obligation towards your husband, I failed to mention that for all the
obligations he has towards you, he does not get any reward from Allah, and sins
if he fails to make them, and is punished, while you are neither sinning nor
are going to be punished for not taking care of him and your home. Allah will Reward you at least ten times for
what you do for him. But if you do not
care to please Allah, nor care to receive His Rewards, and if you continue not
to care about him and your home, our religion permits a man to marry more than
one wife. Perhaps he should marry a
second wife who will do the household chores and take care of him.’ No sooner said, the young bride became a
perfect wife, and took care of her husband and home thereafter.”